Information Literacy In An Era Of Fake News

Information literacy is an important skill, and unfortunately one that many people lack. Recently, I evaluated the website www.DHMO.org. Although most of the information available on the website has merit, it was created as a hoax to bring light to the subject of information literacy in todays’ society. My evaluation of the website will prove that the website masks itself as a reputable source of information, but by researching the website itself, it becomes evident that it is in fact nothing more than a hoax.

In “Colleges Turn ‘Fake News’ Epidemic into a Teachable Moment” (Washington Post, April 6, 2017), Kitson Jazynka highlights professors from across the United States that have implemented different strategies for teaching students to find and address fake news. Jazynka first writes of professor Beth Jannery at George Mason University and how her students have had personal experience with fake news and how they handled the situation. In one case, the student decided to research the topic herself and find the truth. Jazynka advises that the professors cited in her article are teaching students to “detect bias, missing points of view, misleading slants and economic influences” to ensure they have a complete understanding of the articles and their

In his devotional on January 10, 2017, President of BYU Kevin J. Worthen discussed the idea of living in a “post-truth world.” He reflects on the misdirection of information on the internet, noting that there is an overabundance that leads to confusion amongst people. He says, “Many do not know how to determine the accuracy or the truthfulness of new information. Some deal with the matter by looking for reinforcement of their own preexisting, and sometimes ill-informed, notions… Others go to the opposite extreme, finding any piece of information that disrupts their prior views as sufficient reason to throw aside, without further inquiry, truths that have provided sure guidance to them and others in the past.” President Worthen comments address what has become known as fake news and the dangers of biased information.

In a work where news gets thrown in our faces right , left and center , it becomes difficult to filter out which news is true and which is not. But , before asking how to filter out the news , we need to ask ourselves why should we have to categorise the news as credible or non-credible ? Why would the person writing this article wouldn’t want to lie to me ? Many times a journalist may get a story from a source who may or may not be very honest or in some rare cases journalists may make up stories with twisted facts and misquoting individuals. However, in the media business , when someone makes a mistake , there’s always ten others who are waiting to point it out. What makes the media credible, to the everyday reader, is the idea that the

Also in that way, all news is fake news because it is subjective and there is no real way to verify the true truth. This creates a cyclone of misinformation and misinterpretation that is currently engulfing the internet. Often, the premise of fake news deters people from frequenting certain sites and make them more careful about how they get their news. In the 21st century, people are keenly aware of the information they take in, so far so that often pick and choose what knowledge they chose to believe. Likewise, as explained in On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense, as people gain more knowledge they feel like they have a superiority to others, and focus on acquiring knowledge far more than anything else in the world. I have noticed that currently people are so invested in becoming more intellectual that they often lead themselves down the wrong paths, towards isolation and loneliness. Information is not supposed to be the be all end all but has become that way in the age of new

Digital media tend to derive from the truth. It doesn’t challenge the facts to prove them right, but tweak them to question the value of its sincerity. The amount of information available to the public increased since the existence of multiple media outlets and companies. Psychologist conducted a study, which proves the new media’s inability to proving factual evidence. Individuals tend to look up at facts they want to believe, and disregard information unacceptable to them.

After reading Gillmor’s article I felt that his recommendations were helpful. When I first started to read the article I could relate with the Media Consumption section. On a daily basis I consume a tremendous amount of media through Facebook, Twitter, news channels, and many other programs and sites. Obviously, through my consumption of media on applications like Facebook, I tend to consume more fake news than actual credible media. This news sometimes looks real and I fully believe it is real, until I do further research. I thought it was helpful for him to state that people should be skeptical of what they are reading, but not to put the same skepticism on everything that is read. People should look for credibility in the information that

News media outlets are now driven based on the biased nonfactual information.The media’s standards of credibility are continuously decreasing making it difficult to encounter reliable sources. Many would like to blame the public's inability to distinguish factual information from opinions, but the media ultimate goal and responsibility to the public is to provide factual information which they are failing to do so.

From personal experience working as a library professional in my local library, libraries make it a responsibility to not only provide their patrons with information--they improve the information literacy of their communities--Information literacy empowers the user to use discernment in their research in order to question the validity of the resources--because human beings live in an age with such rapid advancement due to the speed of information on the internet, fake news can take us for a ride. According to Rick Mercer (2017), “half the information is false and not just false it is intentionally false designed to confuse us fake news” (para. 3). Information seekers are susceptible and vulnerable to the constant bombardment of data, however, just like with varying food choices, the user possesses the ability to decide where they choose their knowledge

It’s become such a problem that the founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has taken to his own platform to address it. When discussing how his organization has made progress in enabling the community to flag hoaxes and fake news he said, “This is an area where I believe we must proceed very carefully though. Identifying the "truth" is complicated. While some hoaxes can be completely debunked, a greater amount of content, including from mainstream sources, often gets the basic idea right but some details wrong or omitted.” he continues, “An even greater volume of stories express an opinion that many will disagree with and flag as incorrect even when factual.... I believe we must be extremely cautious about becoming arbiters of truth ourselves” (Zuckerberg). Mr. Zuckerberg hits a key point of contention in combatting falsehoods, and that is in not being an dictating force what facts are good or bad. Who then is responsible for fact checking if the media we consume can’t always be trusted? A study from Stanford researchers that evaluated students' ability to assess information sources and described the results as a "threat to democracy." Sam Wineburg, a professor of education and history at Stanford University and the lead author of the study, spoke to NPR (National Public Radio) about the pitfalls of media and how to teach all

In the past few years, fake information has flooded our society through news channels and social media. It has fooled many people into believing information that is false. Being fooled by fake information can be prevented by researching the topic, checking the source and comparing information with other sources. To begin, researching the topic will give the reader a better understanding of the information being read. Which, in turn, will prevent the reader from being fooled by the fake news. Not to mention, checking the source is key when researching information. If the source is unreliable, then it would make sense for the information the source provides to be unreliable. Another great way to look for fake information is to compare the information

Why do we continue to fall vulnerable to these headlines? I will try to break down the “fake news” controversy, which plays on the minds of countless citizens in our country.

As we can all label ourselves as authors, by creating our own web pages and blogs, and with the direct efficiency we can collect our information at, it is questionable as to how much of the web’s content is amateur and therefore lacking in authenticity and credibility. He warns that old media is a dying medium as the new media has been replaced by mass media through the likes of informational web pages such as Wikipedia that not only breed ignorance and publish incorrect and unconfirmed information, but social media channels such as YouTube that are equally as unwarranted by creating a new meaning for ‘entertainment’. Therefore, perhaps news has been blurred and masked as information that can be accessed through a variety of mediums created and written by anyone with the means to voice it. The four purpose of writing: to entertain, to persuade, to advise and to inform should therefore be emphasised to avoid entertaining, persuasive and advisory articles being projected as informational

In today’s society, people, whether they are an educational student of any level or a professional, use the internet or another type of database search, in order to get information. We live in a world where everyone who has internet has a voice, therefore information literacy is essential, meaning that people have to know how to find the information they are looking for, evaluate them and use them effectively.

Everyone is tuned into the news because sometimes it has information the society needs to know. The reason I say sometimes must do with the fact that not all news is trustworthy. Fake news is seen very often and can be misinterpreted by many people. Well, what is fake news? I believe fake news is information that is false and just out there to get attention to it. Behind fake news comes fake ideas, most people's opinions on social media, and false predictions or sayings. Nowadays, anything could be considered as news but I think it's important to identify the real news from the fake ones. That way whatever anyone hears or sees will be reliable.